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Largey

The Russell Martin Appreciation Thread

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I thought we could have a thread based solely on our right-back, Russell Martin, who seems to be the fans whipping boy at the moment. Russell has come under attack from all quarters for hos seemingly ''inept'' displays over the past season and the start of this. Micky Spillane was thought to be twice the player he really is, simply because people would rather see him out on the pitch than Russell Martin.

I just want to say.....Russell, Im right behind you mate. I have no problem with you being in the team, I believe you have shown your skills in a defence and attack, you also speak sense in post-match interviews unlike a lot of today''s footballers. The bandwagon will be stopped on Saturday when you pull off a fantastic performance!

Lets silence the boo-boys once and for all!

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I don''t think he reads these forums to be honest and it will take more than 1 great game for me to change my opinion of him totally. I ''m still not sure if Michael Spillane is a great deal better but IMO deserves a chance as R. Martin is proving to be a weak link in our back 4. And what''s with all this blind faith towards him recently? He''s not a Championship quality player in a lot of peoples opinions.

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Spillane is part of a Brentford team that were (until last weekend) bottom of League One.

R. Martin was the first-choice RB of a team that won that division, and the first-choice RB of a team who''ve started strongly in the league above.

That says a fair bit for me.

He''s been very good the last two league games (it was never a penalty versus Forest) and long may it continue. I think he''s got the potential to be a similar player to Edworthy, although he will need to work on some aspects of his game to reach that level.

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The more I see Russell Martin play this season, the more impressed I''ve been.  I think he can step up and be a decent Championship right back.  The lack of width in the diamond is a blessing and a curse for our full backs as it can make them more exposed than we''d ideally like, and against Watford we suffered from this but ever since he''s looked more composed and willing to get forwards and support.

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I have not had a problem with him this season he has been good so far. I thought he was coped very well against Swansea who have 2 extremely lively wingers that switch flanks regularly. I thought he was a little unlucky with penalty against Forest because that was just a classic make-up decisoin by the ref who probably thought he had got the Barnett decision wrong earlier on.

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[quote user="Wembley_Canary"]I don''t think he reads these forums to be honest and it will take more than 1 great game for me to change my opinion of him totally. I ''m still not sure if Michael Spillane is a great deal better but IMO deserves a chance as R. Martin is proving to be a weak link in our back 4. And what''s with all this blind faith towards him recently? He''s not a Championship quality player in a lot of peoples opinions.
[/quote]

Care to expand on this? How exactly is he proving to be a weak link? IMO he''s had one dodgy game, v Watford (when the entire back 4 had a shocker). And thats not blind faith, its based on what I''ve seen with my own eyes.

And its all very well saying Spillane deserves a chance...he went to Brentford in the summer.

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Hes been playing his best football since he came here last season,ive never had a problem with him.............and all you doubters forget who our last right back was...............and much rather RM than JO.Yes i know hes had bad games..................name me a player who hasn''t? the problem is when he makes a mistake its noticed because of his position more than say a midfielder or striker.If PL has faith in him thats good enough for me.And lets face facts none of you could do any better or else you wou would playing in his place...............OTBC!!!!!!!

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I really rate Russell Martin. He never does anything spectacular but he''s solid and reliable.

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Another one where people are forgetting to factor in his relative youth (he`s 24) before writing him off.  Imo he`s a strong,quick and athletic player (very handy when playing the diamond and the full-backs have to put in extra work) with a good attitude, but the weaknesses in his game have been apparent since he came here.  I think it`s equally apparent that those weaknesses (positioning, distribution etc.) are things which can be worked on and improved with age and experience and that he`s improving all the time.

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I used to be a big critic of him last season, but so far this season i think he''s done pretty well in the matches we''ve played. Thought he was more solid than Drury was against Forest.

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[quote user="Big Slob"]I used to be a big critic of him last season, but so far this season i think he''s done pretty well in the matches we''ve played. Thought he was more solid than Drury was against Forest.
[/quote]

 

Spot on. He was excellent at Forest, both defensively and going forward.

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This is going to be a real problem for some posters on here.

If the general feeling is, and I agree with it, that Russell Martin has been having a good season, who on earth are they going to slag off now?

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Glad there''s a few people that rate Russell Martin. He''s not the best right back you''ll ever see but for where we are now he''s good for us, I can''t see us being able to do much better than him.

I''ve never really made any secret of the fact that I think Spillane is actually pretty useless (for the kind of quality we need) and I''m pleased we''ve got a much better player in Russell Martin in the team.

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I rate him and he has been top drawer this season.

A lot of niave supporters think that if Peterboro let him go, he''s obviously not good enough for the Champs but football doesn''t really work like that!

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He had a stinker vs Watford but has been solid vs Swansea and Barnsley don''t think he deserves the flack he gets , lets hope he keeps it up !

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I stood next to a bloke in The Nelson yesterday who slagged off his whole performance on the basis of the overhit cross. The fact that he didn''t put a foot wrong defensively was apparently irrelevant, and you really can''t reason with that level of blind prejudice. Still, I notice form another thread that Barnett''s getting stick, so maybe he''ll be the new scapegoat. Apparently he headed the ball too much yesterday, the ultimate sin for a centre back!

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I personally think he''s average at best defensively and terrible going forward. He gets so many opportunities in good areas and rarely puts a telling ball in.

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Although last season i thought he was one of our ''weak links'', i think that this was partially due to the fact that he joined the club late after not playing a lot of football and was playing catchup for the rest of the season. However, this season i think he''s generally been very solid.  Totally agree that our diamond formation puts our fullbacks heavily under the cosh when we''re defending but when we''re in total control of the game (like we have been for most games this season), he''s not done too much wrong (apart from the Watford game where our whole defense were woeful).I''m not sure why our fans need a fall guy to blame everything on but i think he''s just a victim of circumstance as our fullbacks are heavily exposed for parts of matches where we are defending and i doubt any of our fans are brave enough to fault Drury for anything (and rightly so). Doherty went through exactly the same thing, maybe in a few years, Martin will overcome the critics and fans will start to give credit where credit is due. While we''re playing well and winning games, i don''t see the point in criticising any of the team.

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